Chapter 180 - Check For Traps!

Clay opened the door and almost tumbled down the steps just inside it before he caught himself. He swore under his breath. That would have been painful and embarrassing. But the stairs were a good sign. Peter would want to keep his leverage over the dragon as secure as possible, and when you were defending something against a dragon, that meant down. The deeper into the castle they went, the more likely they were to find something juicy.

"This way," Clay hissed.

Kara and Patches formed up quickly behind him, with Kara bringing up the rear and Patches holding a lantern he yanked off one of the walls. It was time to see what awaited them down there.

The stairs were odd. They weren't lit, so the lantern was essential. They also spiraled around in very tight turns. It was a spiral stair, but it was more like one built around a central column than the more relaxed, wider ones that had been used in constructing the castle's towers. At first he wondered if these stairs were even used, but the lack of dust told him that someone traveled this way on the regular.

They pushed on, descending deeper. Clay tried to do some mental math. He knew about how high they'd been when they landed on the tower. Peter's rooms had been just one floor above the ground level. Without a window to view outside it was hard to say for sure, but he felt confident these steps had already carried them underground. Maybe Eddings had some sort of 'evil villain lair' down there? They'd know more soon enough.

The stairs stopped deep enough Clay was certain they'd passed underground and opened up into a stone corridor. The walls, ceiling, and floors there were all crafted from the same large carved blocks, each one about a meter square. It was impressive construction and made Clay wonder where the hell they'd gotten all their raw materials from. It had been difficult enough building the wall around the Farm, and that was with the mall to rip apart for chunks of stone and concrete. Eddings must have come across a major stockpile somewhere.

"Hold up," Kara said, grabbing him by the shoulder before he could walk any deeper into the passage. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Peter is definitely the sort of man to use traps to protect his secret, whatever it is. We need to watch ourselves down here."

"Why didn't you say something earlier?" Clay asked.

Kara shook her head. "No need. He wouldn't have trapped the main halls where guards and servants are walking. But down here? I'm betting these stairs are one of the only ways into whatever this area is, and they're hidden behind a locked door in his personal quarters. Ain't gonna be many folks wandering in here."

"Great, so how do we check for traps?" Clay said. "This isn't a D&D game. We can't just roll for it."

Kara shrugged. "You're the guy who knows how to pick locks. You're telling me you never learned how to check for traps at the same time?"

"No, no I did not," Clay replied, chuckling.

While they were chatting, Patches stepped up, coming between the pair. He still had the lantern in one hand. The other hand held a...brick?

"Where did you get that, Patches?" Clay asked.

"Upstairs."

"And you brought it down here with us?" Kara asked.

Patches nodded.

"Why?" the other two both asked.

"Check for traps," Patches said as he grinned toothily, then tossed the brick into the corridor.

It tumbled end over end, bouncing on one block before rolling off it and onto the next. It came to rest four blocks in. As soon as it settled on that last stone, darts shot from one of the corridor walls, firing across the space to clatter against the other wall.

"Holy crap! Nice job, Patches," Kara said. She smacked the ratkin on the back in congratulations. "That was awesome!"

"Well, now we know a few of the stones are safe," Clay added. "And we know some of them won't be, so good call on checking first, both of you. You think we can walk out to where that brick is?"

Patches nodded. "Yes. But no step on trap stone. Might set off more than once. More darts fire."

"Got it. So we slide out there and collect the brick, then use it to test the other stones as we move forward. With luck that'll help us spot each trap before we set it off," Clay said.

He stared ahead down the hall. It was exactly two stones wide, about six feet across. That was enough space that they could avoid the trapped stone by stepping on the other one, assuming it wasn't also trapped, anyway. They'd have to check. First, he had to get out there and grab that damned brick. Clay took a step out of the stairwell, gingerly placing a foot on the stone floor.

Nothing happened.

Clay let out a sigh of relief and took another step, then another. "Looks like these two stones are safe."

"Be careful!" Kara said.

Nodding as he took another step, Clay froze as he felt something shift underfoot. It was in the walls, too, he realized, and the ceiling as well. A little dust poured down from between the stones above, but that was all.

"What was that?" Clay asked, looking back.

Patches shook his head and shrugged. Kara looked worried. "An earthquake? Does Vermont get earthquakes? I don't think it does."

"I think it was Selena," Clay said, answering his own question. "Something must be going on up there. Maybe Peter got back, or they found one of the guards we killed on our way in. Whatever happened, I'm betting Selena is out there working to keep them busy, so they don't have the attention to come after us. She's buying us time. Let's use it well."

He carefully crossed the other stones, stopping right before he stepped on the trigger brick. Patches was right; this trap could easily be set to go off more than once before it needed to be reloaded. He leaned in and scooped the brick up. No darts. That was something, at least!

Then Clay dropped the brick onto the stone next to the trigger stone. He yanked his hand back as soon as he let the stone go, just in case there were more darts, but nothing spat from the walls this time. "This one's clear. You should both join me, just be careful to step where I step, okay?"

Patches and Kara moved out into the hall and followed close on his heels as they pressed on. Clay stepped onto the stone he'd just tested, wincing as he did and hoping he wasn't about to get poked with darts he knew had to be poisoned. Nothing shot him. It was safe.

The next two stones he tested had no traps, so they were able to move forward quickly. The stone after that had another trap, as did the next one. Each time, though, they were able to step on the stone beside the trapped one. Peter hadn't made it impossible to get through this little maze of traps. He'd just made it difficult enough to slow someone down.

Clay had a feeling this wasn't going to be the last of the traps. Whatever came next would likely be worse. The corridor came to a corner, turning left ninety degrees. The corner stone nearest to him did not fire darts when he dropped the brick on it, which was nice, so Clay stepped out onto it.

It promptly dropped away beneath his feet.

"Shit!"

He twisted in mid-air, managing to spin a hundred and eighty degrees before his body fell below the level of the floor. Without all his crystals, he'd never have managed that. It was a close thing even as strong as he was. With a grunt, Clay slammed his palms and forearms down onto the stone he'd just stepped off. That stopped his fall, but he was still sliding. He dug his fingers into the surface of the stone, pulverizing the top bits of the rock and giving him a little purchase.

Then Patches was there, pulling one of his arms. Kara grabbed the other. With their help, he was able to pull himself out of the pit.

"Holy crap, that was close!" Kara said.

Clay got back to his feet and stared into the hole, which dropped a good twenty feet. The stone had shattered when it hit the bottom. That would have hurt like hell, although he felt like he probably would have survived the drop. Again, thanks to his crystals. Tier seven Stamina went a long way toward keeping someone alive in rough times.

"I was just thinking to myself that Eddings was probably going to mix up his traps somewhere ahead," Clay said. "We're going to need to be careful. We have anything we can use as a life-line to make sure people don't fall?"

"I've got a rope," Kara said. "It's not much, but it's something."

She pulled it from her satchel and Clay grimaced. It was parachute cord, not a true rope. They could tie it around each of them, but it would hurt like hell if they fell. Still, it would prevent more serious injury or even death if they sprang another of these pit traps.

"It's not perfect, but it'll help." Clay took the cord and tied it around each of their waists. He took the first position in line, with Patches second and Kara at the end again. "I'm staying first here because I'm heaviest. If any of us are going to trigger one of these traps, it'll be me. I think between the two of you, you're strong enough to lift me."

Kara took two steps forward, grabbed Clay by his hips, and lifted with a grunt. To his shock, he rose a few inches above the floor. Then she let him drop down again.

"Yeah, I think we have it covered," she replied with a grin.

Sooner or later, he was going to get used to how much magic had changed the world. Clearly, that was not this day, but someday Clay really hoped that he'd get more used to the way things were now.

"Point taken," Clay said. "Shall we proceed?"

"Let's. If Selena is up there fighting, then every second counts. We need to find this thing and get out of here," Kara said.

Clay turned ahead and sighed as he stepped out onto the other stone. It didn't fall, thank god. Although he probably should have dropped the brick to test for darts, too... He picked the brick back up again. Somehow it hadn't ended up in the pit. A little luck, that. If they could just get a little more, that would be amazing.